Tree of Life · 5 of 10
Gevurah: strength
Gevurah names strength and restraint. It is read alongside Chesed, so restriction is considered in relation to what is being given.
- Position in this diagram
- Left column
- Hermetic correspondence
- Mars
Choosing a necessary limit
A limit can protect a commitment. It can also become excessive. The useful comparison is between the purpose of the boundary and its effect on the recipient.
Read alongside Chesed: kindness.
Original teaching analogy
An everyday example
A volunteer team accepts five requests because that is how many it can finish. Refusing a sixth request protects the promises already made. This original Gevurah analogy concerns a specific limit. It does not mean that every refusal is justified.
The Mars correspondence
The Mars correspondence concerns a symbolic relation to force and separation. It does not imply aggression, abuse or a fixed temperament in a person with a prominent Mars.
This association comes from Mathers's 1887 table, introduction section 53.
Compare all ten correspondencesContext and sources
The sefirot belong to Jewish Kabbalah. Chabad's account of the ten sefirot explains the names and counting variants; its Sefirot chapter explains the religious context. The planetary association used here is a later Hermetic layer.
The everyday example is an Astriel analogy, not a traditional quotation. Reviewed 20 September 2026.